Nikola Jokic reveals what he learned from first Nuggets showdown
The Miami Heat have a huge matchup to say the least Wednesday night as they have another NBA Finals rematch against the Denver Nuggets, this time inside the Kaseya Center. On Feb. 29, the Nuggets would get another one on the Heat, but now they look for revenge as star Jaime Jaquez Jr. talks about what he learned when facing the Western Conference powerhouse.
While fans of the team and Miami themselves know the Nuggets very well because of the aforementioned championship series, it was Jaquez’s first time playing them late last month. The rookie out of UCLA had a confident response when asked what he learned about his own team after facing Denver since the game was a close one according to Adam Lichtenstein of The Sun Sentinel.
“What I learned about the team (from an earlier loss to Denver) is we have a great connectivity,” Jaquez said. “Unfortunately, we lost that game, but we know that we’re close to getting over that hump. I think that’s the one thing we learned, especially after these last coupe of weeks, is that we’re very close to getting over that hump. … We’ve got great guys, we’ve got great continuity. At times like this, instead of pulling away, we really come close together.”
Jaquez talks about second matchup as Heat face the Nuggets
There is no doubt that the Nuggets have all the tools to go back to the Finals and win another championship as the dynamic duo of Jamal Murray and arguably the best player in the league in Nikola Jokic lead them. Besides them, they’re a well-oiled machine that has very few flaws as Jaquez said that “there’s a lot we have to do” to “slow them down.”
“They’re a good team,” Jaquez said. “There’s a lot we have to do to try to slow them down. I thought we did a great job of slowing them down. Offensively, there’s some things that we could’ve done better. … I think we’re going to be much better prepared this time around.”
The Heat will need all the firepower they need to take down the Nuggets as the team will still be without integral pieces like Tyler Herro and Kevin Love. Besides the main stars, Jaquez will be important for the Heat’s success Wednesday night as in the last matchup, he only scored three points while collecting four rebounds and five assists.
After practice Tuesday, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke about the Nuggets and how he credits them for taking control over contests “in those key moments of games.” Just recently, Denver came back after trailing at halftime to the Toronto Raptors as Spoelstra called them a “championship-caliber team.”
